When some Maya artifacts go missing, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Hunter Johnston agrees to help a friend with the search. But he needs assistance from Lina Taylor, a college professor, archaeologist, and Maya antiquities expert. A violent attack soon has them both on the run, but it isn't until they arrive at her family's estate in Quintana Roo that the pieces fall into place and the couple are faced with an ancient, bloody tradition and a diabolical villain who is as deadly as he is deranged. VERDICT Tuning in to the current interest in the Maya prediction of the world's end on December 21, 2012, Lowell has crafted a suspenseful, sexy, and chillingly eerie tale that takes readers on a perilous journey from academia to the lush, humid jungles of the Yucatan where old gods still hold sway and only death will satisfy them. Lowell (Death Echo) lives in Arizona. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Houston-based archeologist Lina Taylor and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Hunter Johnson join forces to locate four ancient Mayan artifacts that turned up during a drug bust and then vanished. Clues point variously to grave robbers trying to sell the valuable pieces on the black market, narco lords using them in ritual killings, the revival of an ancient cult, and Lina's own shady aristocratic family in Mexico. As Lina and Hunter dodge bullets and trade wisecracks across the Southwest, Lowell (Death Echo) deftly incorporates creepy basement corpse discoveries, sleazy antiquities dealers, crumbling jungle tombs, charmingly sinister relatives, fascinating archeological elements, and a well-realized, completely invented Mayan god. Less deftly handled is the attraction between Lina and Hunter; their turgid ruminations often read like an awkward second skin stretched tightly over the primary story. But these moments are scarce as Lowell quickly and smartly returns to the breakneck pace of her intriguing narrative. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.